PROTECT LUMADS VS. INVADERS

2015-Oct-06 By Clarisse Aquino

Former Senator Nene Pimentel sounded off the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) over the threats against the creeping invasion upon lands belonging to the Lumads

Pimentel urged the CHR to include in its priority agenda assisting the lumads secure their land rights against intrusions of illegal miners and illegal loggers, and other well-connected or powerful interests.

He informed the CHR thatthere are specific complaints lodged by the Dumagats in the province of Aurora, for example, against powerful interests – foreign and local – invading their ancestral domains.

In Surigao del Sur, he relayed the gripes of the Lumads whose tribal forests are being desecrated by illegal loggers as another example.

Pimentel said it is within the CHR’s authority to monitor the Philippine Government’s compliance with international treaty obligations on human rights”, and to “request the assistance of any department, bureau, office or agency in the performance of its functions.”